IS THE euro zone at a turning-point? Policymakers, unsurprisingly, would have you believe so. They point to faster-than-expected growth in the fourth quarter of 2014: the euro zone as a whole grew by 0.3% in the quarter, and its biggest economy, Germany, expanded by 0.7%. The European Commission is forecasting growth in 2015 of 1.3%, which would be the euro area's best outcome since 2010.

Still, it's hard to get excited. France and Italy, the zone's second- and third-largest economies, stagnated in the final quarter of the year. Greece's return to the headlines has the potential to unsettle markets. And fears grow that the 18-member currency club may fall into deflation: prices are falling in Germany, Italy and Spain. The ECB has adopted measures to boost prices and growth—most notably by agreeing to a controversial programme of quantitative easing—but it did so for a reason.

Our interactive graphic (updated February 13th 2015) displays the latest economic and fiscal differences across the European Union.

Well, continuing this topic, as a Lithuanian, I would add that Baltic states are considered northern Eoropean countries as we see our cultures and traditions much more comparable to Scandinavian rather to Slavic (to some western Europeans at first I believe I have had noted that Baltic states don't use kirilica as an alphabet; no, our traditional alcohol is NOT vodka - it is beer; and we are catholics and protestants, not provoslavic )

I will say this once again. The problem in the Eurozone is not so much to do about the countries which are encountering problems (e.g. PIIGS) however and more importantly its the German banks who have foolishly extended loans to them knowingly they would go under. Politicians are spinning this as a problem of the countries who reside in PIIGS however, these same politicians are being schliemered money to say these things vis-a-vie the German banking lobby. So, teh rescue money is going DIRECTLY to the vaults in Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Berlin, Munich and Hamburg. The people who are suffering the most are citizens of Ireland, Portugal, Greece, Spain and Italy who will default some tiem or later because you can only hold a finger in the dam (german bankls) so long. German banks are holding trillions of worthless liabilities and will go down. German taxpayers are going to pay a higher tax rate because of the recklessness of teh German banks. Germans will undergo a lower standard of living. The export base of Germany is alos under duress due to China's now and coming weakness as well as 66% of German exports going to PIIGS who no longer can afford German products nor want German products. Germany is also facing a polictial crisis now as Merkel is getting destroyed at the polls. zu Guttenberg is making Berlin look like the 99% of German schools who encourage cheating. And in turn, his welcomed resignation makes Merkel look worse. When Baden Wutternburg votes, she will be gone. Es tut mir sehr leid Angela. We hardly knew you. Sorry for the German taxpayer who was led by a wolf in sheeps cloth (Angela Jerkel) to the slaughter house.

The economy of the EU countries GDP of all most grow equally and produce equally in order to create a strong European Union. Some EU Countries can't ask more money and produce less.
Sincerely,
Quintus Borgman

Could the author be any more imbecile?
How can he write such statement such as the one below showing all his prejudice and zero knowledge towards southern Europe?
"Even so there has also been more rebalancing in the periphery than is generally appreciated. Current-account deficits which had ballooned in the first decade of the euro have narrowed in countries like Portugal and Spain."
Also why is that this time the imbecile chose not to publish the private debt in the same fashion the creature had been doing thus far with this regular infographics?
Is it because UK's situation has become too ridiculously bankrupt when compared to any other country in Europe including Greece?

Cortruption (yes, in the Uk as well as everywhere else) is the major problem. We seem impotent in the face of it. How can it be legal for Starbucks to make mega profits and pay no tax? Lobbyists. That's how. They sell cups of overpriced coffee and bickies. But apparently they are within the legal lines for tax avoidance. How come? Where is the new remedial legislation. The banks, the insiders - oh yes, lots of fines on corporations our pension funds) but not many of the malefactors in gaol.

Could you add something about the debt trajectory (public and private - and combined)and trajectory of GDP growth per head (I know it shows GDP forecasts but these don't reflect population growth) - also something on inflation/deflation might be useful.
Thank you.
@HuwSayer

"Well sadly for German taxpayers they will indeed end up wearing the losses in the event of a default because they are the only ones with any money."

Not exactly, if the Greek politicians had done what is best for Greece, they would have defaulted on the loans and left the Euro at the first sign of real trouble, and of course the German and French banking sectors would have collapsed, causing yet another worldwide banking catastrophe, which would have left the German people in the precarious position the Greek people have been left in for years now: No credit, no jobs, a failed social security system, and just more and more taxes to pay.

It's not a German taxpayer issue at all really. It's a failed shared currency union issue, and up to now, Brussels has found draconian measures to continue to prop up this failed agreement, to the economic detriment of it's poorer member nations, whose non-competitive economies have been destroyed by all of this, and can ill afford to keep paying.

Very devious and class oriented/racist European socioeconomic policy I would dare to say. These Brussels appointees better hope these poorer nations electorates don't wake up one day, find their political voices, and insist on defaulting and leaving the Euro. It's the only solution for them really. An honest Greek politician should have said:

Internal deflation? No thanks Chancellor Merkel, we're out of here, and I'm doing it now, not later, to cause you as much harm as your so called solution will cause my nation.

Merkel: Wait, wait, let's talk. Don't be so hasty.

Samaras: That's better, lets talk, but seriously this time. We blindly agreed to your terms hoping we could work out a better deal later, but the Markets aren't having it.

No? a deal is a deal. Well then, I represent the Greek people, and you represent the German people first and foremost, so goodbye.

Why this hasn't happened yet is obvious. Brussels and the Greek politicians are in bed together, both corrupt.

I've grown to hate Europe with a passion, becasue of all of this, just like my father before me, who left for America, and a better way of life. Germany is not America is what he use to say. Meaning, the currency union will not be implemented correctly. The Euro destroyed Greece. All Greeks have left to say is Greece never dies.

By the way, my German sister in law who has lived in Greece a life time agrees. Yes, she's a hard working German, but there is no work, and she's stuck there.

There's your check and balance: A hard working German, no matter what she does, is failing, cannot earn a living, and pay her bills in Greece.

I didn't need one myself mind you. Know many hard working Greeks who are failing. That's enough for me. German/Greek/Turk/Black, really shouldn't matter, now should it?

Most of the crises in Europe can be solved with good public finances,free movement of capital and labor, wages linked to productivity, a good social system and a good environment of trust. Nevertheless this is not enough. There is a need to assume the enourmous errors of european cohesion policies that collect rents from natural resources and public monopolies in the periphery and pay demagogic projects, corrupting democracy and promoting dependency. Empires are like thatbut they don't last.

The truth is that part of that Civil War gold (shipped in the "Vita") was used to bribe Mexican authorities, and those from other Latin American countries, to accept more than 100,000 refugees from the Spanish Republic.

The physical location of most of the world's supply of gold is deposited in underground vaults under the streets of New York City; simply because that is the safest and most trusted location in the world. Would you rather have your countries' gold under a mattress in one of your politicians' missress' homes? You Europods are too funny!
Mrbob USA Inc.